A key to the life of Jesus is His regard for the sanctity of the home.
Marriage As A Sacrament
When the Christian Church sought to make its distinction between the secular and sacred, and to determine the essential sacraments, it embraced marriage in them; and it is one of the saddest retrogressions of religion that we have removed it from its holy place.
—C. S. Macfarland.
The Old House
Oh, the auld house, the auld house,—
What though the rooms were wee?
Oh! kind hearts were dwelling there,
And bairnies fu’ o’ glee;
The wild rose and the jasamine
Still hang upon the wa’:
How mony cherished memories
Do they, sweet flowers, reca’!
Oh, the auld laird, the auld laird,
Sae canty, kind, and crouse,—
How mony did he welcome to
His ain wee dear auld house;
And the leddy too, sae genty,
There sheltered Scotland’s heir,
And dipt a lock wi’ her ain hand,
Frae his lang yellow hair.
The mavis still doth sweetly sing,
The bluebells sweetly blaw,
The bonny Eam’s clear winding still,
But the auld house is awa’.
The auld house, the auld house,—
Deserted though’ye be,
There ne’er can be a new house
Will seem sae fair to me.
—Lady Nairne.
Alternate Reading: I John 1: 5-10.